Interview with Muhammad Amin Penjweni, a founding member of the Kurdish National Congress in Belgium and a member of the Presidency Council of the Kurdistan Parliament in Exile, an organization founded by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).[…]

Penjaweni: The KDP and PUK leadership have to be careful and avoid becoming a part of a Shia or Sunni project, the latter of which is represented by Turkey.

Rudaw: Because of the situation in Syria, there are some worries about a possible war between the KDP and PKK. Do you think that is possible?

Muhammad Amin Penjweni: Due to the fact that the PKK leadership has been based in Syria for the past 20 years, they have a large number of followers there. Hundreds, if not thousands of PKK cadres are Syrian Kurds. The PKK has about 3,000 martyrs from Syrian Kurdistan.

The Democratic Union Party (PYD) is a very active party in Syrian Kurdistan. Since the start of the uprising, the PYD’s cadres have gone back into the general population and started organizing them. They have formed councils in all areas, and the councils have formed a bigger council called the People’s Council. Now the People’s Council has formed another council with the Kurdistan National Council (KNC), each with five members.

The PYD has power there because Abdullah Ocalan was based in Syria for 20 years. I personally have visited the areas of Efrin, Qamishli, Darbasiya and Derek. This is the reality in Syrian Kurdistan, whether Turkey wants it or not. The freedom achieved there — whether by bravery, or the Syrian regime giving the areas up — is a development for the Kurdish question.

As for civil war, most Syrian Kurds, including the PYD, remember the civil war in Iraqi Kurdistan. They all refuse civil war. I can certainly say that the PYD will never want to fight and will compromise to avoid a civil war. The PYD has decided to comply with whatever the joint council decides.

Even with the issue of the flag, the council is planning to create a flag for all the Kurds of Syria. I do not see a problem in that regard. There are 20 Arab states, and each has its own flag. To me it is normal if the Syrian Kurds create their own flag and let the Supreme Council run their affairs.

If the situation is run this way, and we on this side — I mean the Kurdistan Regional leadership — avoid meddling in their affairs, then there will be no civil war.

Rudaw: Is there such meddling from the Kurdistan Region now?

Muhammad Amin Penjweni: Yes, both the KDP and PUK are meddling. However, this meddling is to help prevent a civil war. I hope the situation continues as it is so there will be no possibility of a civil war, because civil war means delaying the Kurdish liberation movement for several decades.

Turkey has now mobilized its forces and threatened to interfere in Syria. But I believe, due to many factors, that Turkey will not be able to militarily interfere in Syria now. The Kurds in Syria have formed a front; they can expand this front by forming alliances with the Christians, Druzes and Allavies that are residing in Kurdistan.

“I believe, due to many factors, that Turkey will not be able to militarily interfere in Syria now.”

Until now the Syrian opposition, which is a Muslim Brotherhood-type opposition, has not recognized Kurdish rights and they do not want to do anything for the Kurds in the future.

Rudaw: Why do you think the PKK has escalated its fight with Turkey in the recent weeks?

Muhammad Amin Penjweni: The PKK fight with Turkey has taken a new form. It has changed from a guerrilla fight to full frontal attacks. Turkey has preoccupied itself with some issues that have led to internal disagreements and people in Turkey consider their policies wrong.

As for the issues related to the PKK, they believe that it is time for the Kurds to liberate a part of Turkish Kurdistan and start their movement there. This is an idea that has been circulating among PKK members.

The Syrian army have handed some parts of Syria over to the Kurdish, who now run those areas. But whose side are the Kurds really on? Does this mean they will establish their own nation? Aral Kakal spent several days in the “new Kurdistan”. By Aral Kakal / Syria

……Currently the closest the Kurdish get to their own country is the semi-autonomous state of Iraqi Kurdistan, which has its own Kurdish legislation, military and government.And doubtless many Kurds in Syria would like to see something similar happening there – whether the Syrian rebels or al-Assad or Turkey wants this or not.

And whether the PKK has that political will to push for any kind of independence is also a further, complicated question. In the past, the al-Assad regime and the PKK have been closely allied. That was until a Syria-Turkey agreement saw them sidelined. Until the beginning of the revolution, the PKK were still blacklisted by the Syrian government. All this has changed relatively recently and many Syrians now see the PKK as allied with al-Assad again

One former Arab resident of the Syrian north east says “they were well known as the hand of the government”.A correspondent for the New Yorker weekly magazine recently met Kurds in Syria who told him the PKK had forbidden them from joining the Syrian rebels.

All of which seems to leave Syria’s north east under Kurdish control but their real allegiances unclear. Meanwhile, to find out what’s really going on day to day, in north eastern Syria, Kurdish journalist and activist Aral Kakal and several of his colleagues went there for several days. This is what he saw.

A Journey Into ‘New Kurdistan’

To get across the border, we pretended we were going to Fish Khabour, 85 kilometres north of Dohuk, where we would visit some of the villages on the Iraq-Syria border. That was how we managed to get past the final government checkpoint in the semi-autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan.

After walking about ten minutes down a dirt road, we found an armed man waiting for us with a truck. He was 25 years old, overweight and wore a green and black bandana tied around his forehead. He had come from Iraq to Syria to try and help the Syrian Kurds there.

The young man drove us to the first Syrian village on this side of the border. My colleague, Farman Mohammed, works for one of the Kurdish satellite television stations and he happily told me that although we had just crossed an international border we had not needed our passports because we were moving from one part of “Greater Kurdistan” to another. For him, this dream – of a country called Kurdistan – is a long held one.

There are about 60 houses here in this border village of Karbalat and there are also headquarters for Kurdish security in this area. More than 15 young men carrying guns are standing around. The youngest was 18, the oldest 25. Their collared shirts were not tucked in and some were wearing T-shirts, carrying gun magazines in their pockets. And from the way they were carrying their guns, we could tell they had had no, or very little, experience with them, or with warfare.

After speaking to the Kurdish security staff there, we were introduced to Assad Jaoush, 45, who was familiar with the territory and who would guide us through the areas that had been liberated from the current Syrian regime, led by President Bashar al-Assad.

Jaoush wears military clothes and carries a Kalashnikov. As we toured the area he was happy to provide lots of information about what we were seeing. He pointed out that this area, the Jazira area in Syria’s far northeast, is well known because it holds more than half of all of Syria’s oil. Jaoush and his friend reckoned that after counting the oil wells in this region for four days, they thought there were thousands of them here.

We also pass through another village, Wank, which was one of the first towns around here to be Arabized. This was a policy that former Syrian leader, Hafez al-Assad, had in common with neighbouring dictator Saddam Hussein. Both leaders tried to weaken the substantial Kurdish communities here by pushing Arabs from other parts of their countries in and moving Kurds out.

Jaoush told us that the heads of the Arabized villages had come to the Kurds in the village of Datba, where he’s from, two days ago and asked to stay in the area. The Arabs said that if they were able to stay they would even return the property that had been confiscated from the Kurds by the al-Assad government.

“The comrades of Datba decided to allow them to stay,” Jaoush explains. “Because if we expelled them now then, given the current situation in the rest of Syria, they’d probably be killed.”

After this we travelled another 32 kilometres until we came to the first checkpoint manned by the actual Syrian army. This was at the small Syrian city of Derik, which was also known as Malikiya.

Earlier on Jaoush had told us that the Syrian army still keeps some bases in this area but that their presence is really only a formality: the Kurds are in control here.

Jaoush spoke to one of the soldiers there and we were allowed to pass. The soldiers were young and they looked weary and frightened. “They cannot really make a move or interfere without our approval,” Jaoush explained.

Since taking control of the Afrin, Kobani, Sari Kani and Derik areas in Syria’s northeast, the Kurdish have set up their own independent administration. Jaoush confirmed that this administration was associated with Abdullah Ocalan, the Kurdish rebel leader who was one of the founding members of Kurdish separatist party, PKK, the Kurdish Workers Party, and who is currently serving a life sentence in Turkey for his association with the PKK. Here in Syria the PKK-associated movement has two wings, with the political side known as the Democratic Union Party (PYD) in Syria and the military wing named the Popular Protection Units (or YPG).

We were able to tour around Derik easily enough and were able to meet several local leaders. The mayor of the Derik district, Subhi Ali Elias, told us that he had been elected to the position by PYD’s People’s Council. “This organisation [the People’s Council] is the highest authority here,” Elias told us. “It also has institutions for youth issues, women’s affairs, the arts and for teaching the Kurdish language. It also supervises municipal activities.” Up until recently, no Kurdish language schools existed here, they were forbidden by the Syrian government.

Another local, Havel Ahmad, told us he was a member of the local market council. The market place in Derik stays open late – and there are still a lot of pictures of the Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad hanging on the walls and power poles.

[Editor’s note: Qatar-based Al Jazeera news network explained recently that this was because the central Syrian government is still paying the salaries of civil servants and the Kurdish administrators were not ready to, and indeed could not afford to, remove all signs of al-Assad in the city.]

“Our market council was elected by the shop keepers here to administer the market,” Ahmad explained. “its main task presently is to prevent artificial inflation and stop merchants from manipulating prices.” His market council was supervised by the more senior PYD council and there was also another council that acted as a legal court, Ahmad added.

We were also able to meet the Kurdish local responsible for Derik’s internal security, that is, the de-facto police force here. The ground floor of Derik’s security headquarters has two cells and there was a prisoner in each one.

“We have officers in all areas of Derik and we have control over the security here,” the de-facto police chief confirmed. “In some cases we’ve had to arrest troublemakers. But we resolve these problems using traditional [tribal] means, where we let the accuser and the alleged perpetrator meet one another and negotiate what would be suitable reparation. And we’re the arbitrators. We’ve had some 20 or 30 cases that needed to be resolved, as well as five instances of theft and we’ve been able to resolve them all,” he told us proudly.

There is also another security force present here though and it seems more formidable. This is the YPG, which is supposed to come under the control of the Kurdish National Council in Syria [a political body that comprises all of the different Kurdish political parties in Syria]. The YPG is more like an army; its members wear black uniforms and khaki jackets and they completely cover their faces with scarves, leaving only their eyes visible.

The YPG is commanded by a 30-year-old woman here. “All of the military in Derik is ours,” she told NIQASH, while keeping her face similarly covered. “In Derik we have 300 soldiers and if there’s any kind of emergency we can easily increase that number. We train our forces properly and every member is on duty for between five and 10 hours a day.”

Interestingly there was one place that we didn’t visit. This was the Baath political party’s premises in Derik. We stopped the car out front but we didn’t get out. Jaoush told us there was absolutely no point in doing so as the building – still decorated with al-Assad’s picture and flying the Baath party colours – had been abandoned recently. This seemed to be true: the door to the building simply stood ajar. “They left the building a week ago and took everything with them,” Jaoush said.

However there was still some noticeable Syrian presence in the headquarters of Syrian security: we saw men on the roof and also guards at the doors.

There are no hotels or guesthouses and during our stay in Derik, we were accommodated in a house that was just 150 metres away from the security headquarters. We managed to visit several locals’ homes too and often we would see pictures of Abdullah Ocalan hanging on the walls.

Every Friday there are anti-regime protests on the streets of Derik, organized by young Kurdish people who use loudspeakers to gather a crowd. Women stand on the left side and men on the right and then after the protests are finished, families simply return home again.

And in general, it seemed to us that most people were just going about their daily business, going to work, coming home, having dinner – nothing seemed unusual about their lives here.

Market council member Ahmad likes it this way. He told us that he believes that the Kurdish shouldn’t give up these territories again, that they shouldn’t let the al-Assad government back in here and that Syria’s Arabs should also be persuaded that al-Assad no longer controls the country’s northeast.

It makes sense to him and no doubt, to many others here too. “The Kurds don’t want to start a war with the regime and the regime doesn’t want to open up a new front,” Ahmad concludes.

The grave was dug out at al-Qadam, which has recently been a hotbed of armed confrontation between the government troops and the armed rebels.

SANA said the residents of al-Qadam had tipped the Syrian troops about the grave, adding that the bodies had been found handcuffed and eye-folded. It said “armed terrorist groups” committed the massacre.

The clashes in Syria have spread to several hotspots nationwide but mainly taking place in the northern city of Aleppo and at a cluster of southern suburbs of Damascus, such as Hajar al-Aswad, Tadamun and al-Yarmouk camp for the Palestinian refugees, where the Syrian authorities said they have rounded up more than 100 “terrorists” on Thursday.

In a brief statement, the ministry said three members of the oppositional National Coordination Body (NCB) had been kidnapped by “terrorists” on the international airport’s road in Syria’s capital of Damascus.

The ministry said the authorities had unleashed a wide-scale investigation and called on the kidnappers to release the figures.

The Damascus-based NCB said it had lost contact with three of its members who paid a visit to China earlier this week and arrived at the international airport of Damascus on Thursday.

Five of its members left the airport in two cars, one of which disappeared and the communication with its occupants was cut, according to the NCB.

The missing members are Abdul-Aziz Khair, head of the body’s foreign relations, Aias Aiash, a member of the executive office, and Maher al-Tahhan, who picked the two up from the airport.

The NCB said it could not get hold of the party responsible for the kidnapping, adding that it had informed a number of foreign embassies and national figures in and outside the country in hopes of knowing what happened to them.

No party claimed responsibility for the kidnapping, but it came apparently to hinder the start of the National Salvation Conference slated for Sept. 23.

Talking about the Kurds and their right to self determination, I should have also said that the people of Iskandaron were allowed to make that call too, weren’t they? But to make sure that these “calls” are genuine and truly come from the people, this right should become part of every cyclical local and national election. In other words they also have the right, and should always continue to be independent, so possibly reversing an earlier decision to be with whomever they chose to join before. This should forever expose the folly that is known as the nation-state and steer humanity towards a collection of self-managing open communities cohabitating in peace and harmony on this fragile planet of ours.

NATO does not believe that military intervention in Syria would bring any improvement in the security situation there, a senior alliance official says.

Germany’s Manfred Lange, Chief of Staff of the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE), said the military was telling leaders that there was no good case for military action and the political process had to be pursued.

“The military advice is (that) there are not sufficient visible signs at the moment that a military intervention could lead to an improvement of the security situation,” Lange said.

“The political process has to be pushed forward, sanctions need to take effect. At the moment, this situation cannot be solved by the military in a responsible way,” he told a briefing.

He added that with little prospect of action at the United Nations “it is clear that the alliance doesn’t have any military plans on Syria”.

ALabo said
“In case you didn’t notice, most people here are worried solely about Syria, even those you call “pro-regime” and couldn’t care less about her whereabouts, her going wouldn’t change the political situation one inch.”
ZOO said:
“Albo
A big fuss is made because a grieving widow, still under the shock of the violent death of her husband wants to protect her children from kidnapping, revengeful hatred and further terrorist attacks.”
Actually what made me pay extra attention to this story, was a rigeme supporter,who keeps luerking in the background and only appears for something really irritating,’so when he just came out of the blue to attack just for reporting the story، that Is when I noticed the importance of this story.
Now here we are not talking about just any women,Bashara was very involved in the decision making of what is happening,she is very well known for her strong personality
that not even Hafez,Basel,maher and Anissa combined could make her change her decision of getting involved with her bodyguard Assef the maried man with kids.
So she is very far from calling her a “grieving widow” and try to play that sad tune,
Now bileve it or not, I’m worrid,but not about Syria but about you,Syria will be fine,an equal savages passed through her,be it the Mongol or the curseders and Syria came out on top,but we Syrians not “Syrian’s Assad “have to worry about earning the privilege to belong to her,and no one else

Athiest,
You should read my posts about the 3 missing NCB members,I was the first,as far as I could see,to bring the news to SC, my condemnation for their kidnapping or arrest is stated loud and clear, I am not yet sold on the assumption that security forces was behind it but I said that those forces are the usual suspect. What would be a big embarrassment for the regime is if those people were arrested by security forces without the knowledge of Bashar and his top advisors. This incident is very serious, let us wait a day or two before passing a final judgement of this issue, I am still hoping that the men will show up alive before Sunday, one terrible possibility is that we may only see bodies and the two fighting factions will trade accusations about who did what, Manna’s statement puts a lot of pressure on the regime, I sincerely hope that this story has a happy ending,we had enough. Bashar is about to be sidelined in a way or the other, Syria is much bigger than a person or a family, arresting those men,assuming that the regime did the deed, will not improve Bashar’s chances of political survival,even alawites are ready to open a new page without him.

Riyad al-Asaad, commander of the Free Syrian Army (FSA), announced the move on Saturday in a video message from Syria, the first since the group founded its command centre in Turkey at the beginning of the 19-month conflict.

“To the Syrian people, its freedom fighters and all the armed factions, we are glad to let you know that the leadership of the FSA has moved into Syria following arrangements made with other brigades that included securing liberated areas with the hope of launching the offensive on Damascus,” Asaad said.

He said the FSA has felt pressure by the international community to take a leading role in post-war Syria. Asaad said the FSA rejected those offers, reiterating that the people of Syria should decide the future of the country.

“Since we left our country we suffered all sorts of regional and international interference and political pressure, we were isolated. Their goal was to have the FSA replace Assad once he is gone, but we categorically made it clear that we would never betray our people reiterating that only the Syrians should decide their future institutions.”

The public Libyan conscience rejects the Islamist extremists and the killing of the American Ambassador. Ironically, and i’m sure to the dismay of Batta’s supporters, The US has not lost Libya to Islamists. The US had gained Libya. This anti-Islamist demonstration will not go unnoticed. This is an encouragement to the West to do more in term of helping transforming the Arab countries into democracies.
—-
Islamist Militia Ousted From Benghazi Bases

Sky News – 3 hours ago

Hundreds of protesters angry over last week’s killing of the US ambassador stormed the compounds of the Islamic extremist militias suspected of carrying out the attack.

A crowd overwhelmed the Ansar al Shariah Brigade’s site in the centre of the city. Buildings and a car were set alight and the fighters were evicted.

The protesters chanted “Libya, Libya”, “No more al Qaeda!” and “The blood we shed for freedom shall not go in vain!” as they carried weapons out of the base.

One of the demonstrators Hassan Ahmed said: “After what happened at the American consulate, the people of Benghazi had enough of the extremists.
…..
The violence followed a day of protests by more than 30,000 citizens who marched in Benghazi against armed militias.

“No, no, to militias,” the crowd chanted. One sign read: “Benghazi is in a trap. Where is the army, where is the police?”

Other signs mourned the killing of the ambassador, reading: “The ambassador was Libya’s friend” and “Libya lost a friend.”
,,,

“Now bileve it or not, I’m worrid,but not about Syria but about you,Syria will be fine,an equal savages passed through her,be it the Mongol or the curseders and Syria came out on top,but we Syrians not “Syrian’s Assad “have to worry about earning the privilege to belong to her,and no one else”

It’s not entirely clear what you’re trying to tell me.
By the way, I had a post answering your jizya and zakat comment I did not notice because of the new articles.

Basically, jizya varied, was often higher, but jizya+kharaj were always higher,. We even have evidence that in the early centuries, the rulers sought to restrict conversions in order to keep their tax revenues. Likewise the Ottomans weren’t very interested in converting christians for the same reasons.

As usual I made the rounds of the news at Manar, Press TV,Mayadeen, Syrian TV and Cham Press and listen to the Addounia newscast.

Then BBC and Aj and others as well.

First the internal opposition came out accusing the security forces of kidnapping its members

Second Manaa is apparently not going to Syria for despite his incessant call to any use of arms has come to realize that even his completely pacifist stance and his willingness to discuss all options with the regime cannot guarantee his personal safety.

A hypocrite for while staying in Paris and denying the average Syrian the right for self defense, when it comes to the prospect of becoming a “visitor” to one of the notorious underground detention centers he prefers to stay in lush Paris eating his croissants and sipping coffee and pontificating about the need for dialogue.

I do not know if he is stupid or delusional to think that he can sit with the likes of Shalish and Maher to “discuss” things.

ANN

Please tell us where to invest in Syria. You posted on the incentives the regime is putting out for investments. I would like to join you in this venture and I would like to know how and where to invest in this most profitable stable country.

ZOO

Your crocodile tears about the bereaved widow that has chosen to leave Syria are just that, go tell this story to the mother of Hamza Khatib that was tortured to death and go tell that to the bereaved thousands that have seen their children with slit throats in Houla and go tell the parents and husbands and fathers and brothers and sisters of those that were tortured every other day for years in the prisons of this brutal regime. Syrians will exact fair and full justice from Bushra and from every one of the criminals running this mafiosi enterprise.

Now my questions

I saw Frontline and AJ with Dr. Landis
Pray tell me, since the regime is not going to crush the revolution and its ranks are increasing by the day due to this ongoing crackdown what options does it have?

If as some suggested that the opposition put itself in a corner by insisting on the resignation of the president, isn’t the regime in the same dead end with its insistence on the military solution?

I hope that the Kurds and Palestinians and Turkmen and Allawis and Druze will have their independence be it in a separate geographic entity or in a federation where they can establish rules and regulations and a political system whereby they feel safe and are free.

Why not have a free and independent Kurdistan and if as Majbali points out to us that the Allawis have suffered and are defined by this suffering and are marked by a visceral hatred for this suffering why not have a free Allawistan federated or united with a Turkish Alevistan?

Why not have the Druze establish their state and the Shia in Iraq have theirs and the Sunnis if they ever come out of their divisions have their state?

Long live the day where we see the end of the imposed artificial inherently destabilizing Sykes Picot borders disappear and where we can forge a greater ME economic union and leave both religion and politics to the stooges that entertain us without harming us. I say stooges for every one of these communities today has stooges as their leaders except that they are ever so vicious and nasty and brutal be they Barzani or Jumblatt or Freddo or Maliki or the stooges of KSA or the GCC.

So let there be a redrawing of the maps and let people become free.

Long live Kurdistan and Southern Sudan and Allawistan and Druzistan and Shiaastan and Sunnistan and every other conceivable and inconceivable stan.

“Pray tell me, since the regime is not going to crush the revolution and its ranks are increasing by the day due to this ongoing crackdown what options does it have?”

Think about it, does a fragmentation of Syria is in Turkey’s or Saudi’s interest? They too have sub-groups, religious or ethnic ressenting their rule. So when they continue to fuel this civil war, and their efforts only lead to chaos with each region becoming ruled locally and fiefdoms being formed by warlords- then what sort of example this will set for their own unruly groups, including those across the border?
The side they support will not become dominant, the pro-regime regional powers will never allow it.

When they finally realize, they will back down. But it will take time, and they still haven’t figured out although it was obvious from the beginning. It isn’t surprising that they would be a bit slow, they aren’t known for their intellectual achievements after all.

WASHINGTON — Rarely in the annals of lobbying in the capital has so obscure a cause attracted so stellar a group of supporters: former directors of the C.I.A. and the F.B.I., retired generals and famous politicians of both parties.
Members of the Mujahedeen Khalq at the former Camp Liberty, near the Baghdad airport, this month. The group relocated to Iraq in the years after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
The Iranian opposition group that attracted that A-list of Washington backers, many of them generously compensated for speeches, learned Friday that it had achieved its goal: Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has decided to remove the group, the Mujahedeen Khalq, or People’s Mujahedeen, from the State Department’s list of designated terrorist organizations.
On a related subject, half of aljazeera.net web poll participants did not think that bombing Iran will be harmful to the regions.
I have known Iranians for decades, most of those that I met are educated, open minded and opposed to the Mullahs but when it comes to Iran they are overwhelming against violence and anti foreign intervention, Iranians are also supportive of each other in diaspora unlike the bitterly divided arab community. Iranians with all of their shortcomings are generations ahead of most Arabs.

So if this softest of the softest of allowed internal opposition is incarcerated and disappeared a la mafia style; and Manaa cancels his visit to Syria it means that your regime is CRIMINAL to say the least.

Are there any neurons that connect in the brains of the regime supporters when it comes to facing reality and posting pro regime nonsense?